Eight Louisiana State University Eunice students in the Community Engagement Program attended a meeting of the St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District Board of Directors meeting Tuesday in Opelousas. At the board meeting, the met with Bill Rodier, right, executive director, for a question and answer session. From left, are Launey Patton Griffith, director of continuing education; Ray Zorn Jr. of Opelousas; Jasmine Robinson, of Crowley; and Stephanie Middlebrooks, of Richard. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)
Stephanie Middlebrooks, of Richard, was one of eight LSUE students attending an economic development meeting in Eunice. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)
Keesha Menard, of Erath, drives more than two and half hours three times a week to attend classes at LSUE. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)
Ray Zorn Jr., of Opelouas, standing, talks about his return to school after working 15 years in the oil field during a meeting of the St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District in Opelousas on Tuesday. Seated, are Gary Soileau, Sue Soileau Brignac, both board members; and LSUE students Keesha Menard and Stephanie Cooper. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)
LSUE students learn about economic development
Keesha Menard was one of eight LSUE students who learned about economic development by attending the St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District meeting in Opelousas on Tuesday.
Menard, 36, knows all about the need for economic development. She dropped out of school in the eighth grade and has worked in health care in radiology and patient care jobs.
She now drives two hours and 40 minutes from Erath to LSUE and back with the goal of obtaining an associate degree in registered nursing. Eventually, she would like to be nurse practitioner, she said.
“I worked with radiologists and doctors and they always told me LSUE has the best nursing program,” she said.
Menard was one of three of the eight students who have been in the workforce.
The students are in the Community Engagement Program headed by Madelaine Landry, executive director of the LSUE Foundation and coordinator of the LSUE Alumni Association and LSUE Institutional Development.
“They have returned to school because they realize ‘I’m not going any further without some formal education.’”
One of those students, Ray Zorn, 38, said, “I worked in the oil field for 15 years and just sort of reached the invisible glass ceiling that you can’t progress in the future without having an education.”
Zorn, a Chataignier High School graduate, lives in Opelousas, and is studying administrative management.
“I learned the value of education through doing the work,” he said.
Bill Rodier, St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District executive director, said, many people do not appreciate the value of having a college like Louisiana State University Eunice in the area.
But, addressing Zorn, Rodier said, “It takes courage to do what you are doing.”
Dr. Kimberly Russell, LSUE chancellor, was at the meeting and updated the board on her first 60 days on the job as well as plans.
Those plans include seeking state Department of Education approval to use Pell Grants to help high-achieving, low-income St. Landry Parish high school students attend classes in science, technology, engineering and math classes at LSUE.
Landry said this the fourth time the group has visited the economic group’s board meeting.
“This has been really effective,” she said. “They learn about what’s important in their community from the economic development standpoint.”
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